Education Commons^™

Small Schools: How Effective Are The Academics?, Jerome Thayer, Martha Havens, Elissa Kido

Faculty Publications

The North American Division’s 2013 school-opening report showed that out of 838 K-12 Seventh- day Adventist schools, 490 (58.5 percent) are small schools, with only one, two, or three teachers, multigrade classrooms, and no fulltime principal. Even in schools with four or more teachers, it is common to find multigrade classrooms.

Can small schools with multigrade classrooms be as effective in fostering achievement as larger schools with single- grade classrooms? This is a concern of many parents who are considering sending their children to the small local Adventist school. To illustrate two points of view related to small schools, consider …